Civil War Submarines

Dspin1

I've always been fascinated by the first attempts at submarine warfare, especially during the Civil war.  Recently I discovered some beautiful resin models of both Union and CSS subs at cottageindustrymodels.com.

I have never worked with resin before.  I have heard the parts need to be washed and only CA or epoxy glues will work.  I've also read that resin dust from cutting/sanding is toxic.  But I've also read that it is not.  I assume I can use acrylic primers and paints.

If you have experience with cottage industry models, or know of any articles or tutorials on working with resin, I'd really be grateful for your input.

Thanks!

Dave 

NO,  resin dust is NOT toxic.  It is an irritant.  Utilize dust prevention protocols.   Sand with plenty of ventilation (outside).  Wet sand.  Use a particle mask if particularly sensitive     

yes,  resin needs ca or epoxy.   Yes,  you can use your favorite paint,  enamel or acrylics.   Hardware store rattle cans are particularly good and economical. 

Cottage Industries is a legit business making good products   

Flagship models also makes ACW ships   

MikroMir from the Ukraine makes nice CSS Hunley in polystyrene

Thanks, Ed for the information.  It's much appreciated.

Most every thing you said is true. Yes, dust is not toxic, but it isn't good to breath, and you make a lot of it.

Typically on a resin kit, the part is very solidly attached to a mold "gate" and there's a lot of material to cut through. You saw it off a few 0.01"s back from the part and then draw sand it on a flat surface to final dimension.

Resin kits are great. They have way fewer parts, but each part has a lot of detail. Something like a hull has no seam to deal with. You have to scratch build a lot of the parts, even despite the valiant efforts by the maker to provide stuff.

I like them a lot. If you've ever tried to build a styrene short run kit, holding a lot of small ill fitting parts together gets tedious.

I was very surprised to learn about the many varied submarine designs built during the Civil War.  Maybe a mainstream kit maker will turn to this untapped genre, after they get tired of doing yet one more Me-109.

I built Verlinden's resin 1/32 Hunley, and it was a nice easy kit, except when I tried to horse the hull pour stub off, slipped and gave myself a really nasty gash in my arm from the long shard that fractured off!  Man there was blood all over the sink!

On a safety note, the stinky resins seem to make me wheeze when sawing and grinding, so I do this work with soapy water.  But that contributed to the above accident!

There has been a lot of discussion on working with resin in the Techniques forum.  Try a search on resin in that forum.

Hmmm;

 The Hunley . I got to thinking . I know , I know , it's bad for an older person to think !

 I have a potload of those wunnerful Decal Rivets and Nuts and Bolts .Mebbe I shood do this here ting in P.V.C. pipe material ? with a larger sized cut-away in mind . This thought fascinates the heck outta me .

 I'll let ya'll know whut I thunk up .   Tanker - Builder

Last month's FSM had just such a project!  The construction of the real sub was very simple, so it should not be hard to do.  Good luck!

I just bout the Cottage Industry 1/72 HUnley kit. Really looking forward to building it.

I'm really suprised none of the mainstream styrene model companies haven't produced any kits of the civil war era ships and subs like the U.S.S. Monitor, C.S.S. Virginia, or the C.S.S. H.L. Hunley? It seems like a perfect subject matter to reproduce in plastic. Lots of panel lines and rivets and interesting designs.    

Dave,

I can't speak for Cottage Industries submarine kits but I did purchase their multi media 1/96th scale Naval Artillery upgrade set for Revell's CSS Alabama.  The product was as described on the website and very well packaged;  Turn-around was quick, too.  I would not hesitate to do business with them again.

Working with resin is no big deal.  The tips in other posts are spot on.  I prefer to wet sandresin parts to keep the dust down.  Just go slow and trial fit parts often.

Ray